The Ultimate Sports Hall of Fame

Every sport has countless numbers of stars. But I have only 50 spots to give out to thousands of players who have been amazing in their respective sport. Most of my selections come from the USA, with a few foreigners who changed their games mixed in.

Many of these guys have won countless championships, MVPs, and all are Hall-of-Famers.

With only 50 spots, many outstanding athletes got left out, especially since I focused a lot on the modern U.S. sports leagues. But that does not mean that they’re not great. They’re just not in the top 50, in my opinion. And everyone is entitled to a different opinion. Enjoy mine.

24. Johnny Unitas

23. Larry Bird

I will mention Magic Johnson, but here we have his partner in crime, Bird—even if they played on different teams. The two developed a rivalry and took over the NBA with their talents. Bird is one of the best shooters ever.

17. Bob Cousy

16. Tiger Woods

Yes, I know what Woods has been through in the last year. But that doesn’t take away from his game and talent. He still has a chance to win the most majors ever, and without last November’s incident, had a chance to become the greatest and most worshipped golfer ever.

13. Roger Federer

12. Wilt Chamberlain

100 points. Sure, one game doesn’t define a player. But Wilt’s triple digit scoring game remains unmatched, and so does his penchant for scoring and rebounding. You’d be hard pressed to find a player with his stats in the last century...or ever.

11. Jim Brown

Touted as “the greatest athlete ever” on a banner inside of Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome, Brown, a former Orange star football player (and lacrosse and basketball player), only played about 10 seasons in the NFL. But he still managed to be one of the greatest players ever.

7. Wayne Gretzky

6. Michael Phelps

Before you give me flak for putting a 25 year old sixth on this list (and in between greats Pele and Gretzky nonetheless), consider this—no athlete has ever won as many medals in an Olympic games than Phelps’ eight in ’08. Phelps accomplished the nearly un-accomplishable, and that is why he is ranked this high.

5. Pele

This guy changed the game of soccer. He made soccer cool, playing for the New York Cosmos nearly half a century ago. He had cool moves and plenty of talent, and is one of the most famous soccer players ever to this day.

4. Magic Johnson

Yes, Magic goes before Kareem and even Kobe because of the way he changed the game. Coming into a downtrodden league in 1979, Johnson lit up the scene with Larry Bird and proved that you can be 6’9” and a point guard. Oh, and he won plenty of championships too.

3. Muhammad Ali

2. Babe Ruth

It's fitting that he's holding three bats in this picture. That pretty much explains Ruth. Although the Bambino played in a different, less complicated era, he is still the most well-known baseball player. The Sultan of Swat belted out 714 home runs, third best of all time. And he was a pitcher and an outfielder, something no player would do in today’s game.